Here are some quick & handy tips for speakers.

Presentation & Demos

• The projectors we’ll be using at GCRC will support both 1024x768 and 1280x1024 resolutions. Make sure your presentations look good in them!
• One of our speakers, Aman King, has this useful tip:

Something I have observed time and again in tech conferences: dark background for slides and low contrast font color that just doesn’t work for audiences at any distance. Similarly for font size, especially in diagrams or code snippets.

• Make sure the laptops you use are loaded with your presentation/demos, and also carry copies on the cloud or on removable media.
• It’s also recommended to have the console outputs ready, in case your demos don’t work as expected.
• The organizing team will have a Macbook ready, which you can copy the presentation to. If your laptop dies, your talk doesn’t have to! :)

Humor

• Humor can provide a powerful boost to the audience’s attention span.
• Please follow the Code of Conduct
• Be tasteful. If you have a joke that could offend some sections of the community, it’s probably not right for a conference. Clean humor is best appreciated.
• Start off with a joke or end with one or both. Make the presentation memorable.
• Don’t overdo it, lest it be mistaken as stand-up comedy!

Engagement

• Provide examples which the audience can relate to. If they feel “Oh yeah, I’ve been there!”, they’ll be more receptive to your talk.
• Don’t RTFM, but rather share your experiences, pitfalls and gotchas. The audience is there for stories, not a boring reading of a technical document.

Our friends at Droidcon have more tips for you here. Here are some important ones:

Prep for Offline Demos

All speakers will be provided Wi-Fi access codes. However, invariably all conferences have their share of Wi-Fi and internet issues, and we’d recommend that you keep everything you need for your demo available offline just in case you run into issues. As you know, if things can go wrong, they will. So, dont leave things to chance.

Session Setup

Please arrive at the auditorium at least 30 minutes in advance to prep. This will also give you a feel for the space, how the audience interacts, and how you’d like to position yourself best.

Accessorize

If you have any special needs for your demos – Macbook adaptors, additional cables or wiring, or any specialized setup, please plan on bringing them along so they are at your finger tips.

Timing is Everything

Time is of essence, and you’d want to pace your session effectively. Let the volunteers know if you’d like a 5 & 10 minute reminder so you dont run out of time for questions.

No pitches please, we’re geeks

This is a developer event. So, if you have a pitch about your company, your apps, or yourself, please leave it at the door. And no freebies either, unless you are a sponsor

Rehearse, Rehearse, Rehearse!

If you have a demo, please take the time to rehearse to ensure all your bits are in place.